some tidbits on mapping…
Just for sh*ts n’ giggles… to get your mind right…
If you have not experienced Google maps… or the utterly extraordinary Google Earth, then by all means do so. It is well worth the effort to learn a few details to use it.
I just used Google Maps and took a screenshot of a satellite image to “layer” over an area on one of my maps. I can turn the image On and Off… this allows me to see the real and actual of Now versus Then… Humans are busy little things… they dig ditches and bulldoze trenches. Hell, don’t forget the Panama Canal. Mother Nature in the form of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or just the movements and erosion of tides will and does change things. Bear in mind that the patents and deeds I pursue are roughly 300 years old. I try to keep that in mind. But overall… there is some reason to the madness… these old surveys are surprisingly accurate after all these years.
I have found there is something of a psychological “game” I have to grapple with. It is just in the nature of things that I will speculate using what “reason and logic” I can muster up… and I will start to draw conclusions of what and where a deed ‘should’ be “according to my rules”. I have found I am often wrong. Sometimes by miles. So I will not hesitate to change my mind in an instant. I’ve learned to just follow the clues where they take me…
Of great importance to me is finding an “anchor” deed. That is a deed that shines in the fact that it simply cannot be moved. It is a rare occurrence where you “Know that you know” the thing cannot be moved. An example would be, for instance, the area is on the North side where two major rivers meet. You get the drift… things just fall in their proper place around an anchor deed.
Here is what I am working on at the moment. it involves Carolus Anderson and several others that strike my fancy. But as usual the deed descriptions are flawed, and confusing. But the more facts you can bring together the plainer the actual facts emerge.
William Bennet in 1723 obtained a patent for 600 acres… the problem is that the actual deed description describes only about 300 acres. So my objective was to find the missing acres… then this particular deed began to become VERY interesting…
__________________________
continuing…
Sometimes you just have to laugh… I realize there are folks that have came across that impenetrable “Brick Wall”… so I do have a bit of empathy… I have my own brick walls.
Note below that I have a deed that I am clueless about… But realize that I am not about to give up on… it just needs some more clues… maybe they will show up later… next week… next year… maybe another researcher will tie it in in a comment. You just have to shake your head.,,
Here is the funny part… the directions of the patent:
Wow… yawn
After pondering the above conundrum a bit it turned out to be pretty simple… after finding another deed with the same weirdness, it all came together. Nicholas Boon perhaps inherited or otherwise acquired the property from Thomas… I still have to settle that problem…
This is another example that shows the seemingly close relationship of Carolus Anderson with the Boons. I figure he married a Boon daughter… I just can’t prove it.
One should strive to keep things simple…
Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina 
And there’s my eighth great uncle, Carolus Anderson! Great work Marc!
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kanderson819
May 13, 2023 at 1:56 pm
Message received…
Your mystery deed appears to be off the Potacasey and with mounting evidence, suggest to you that the Nicholas Boon patent might be in that area. Plausible and know that lot’s or research is needed to come to a conclusion sometimes.
Like analyzing the records, please to do not read me wrong. I was not trying to be forcible with my opinions on the matter, but was just trying to relay to you what my interpretations on how the patent looked. Like I commented before, it will be an “interesting exercise” in trying to relay my thoughts with the method of communication we had seems to have been proven. The coordinates that I sent to be typed in “exactly” was not an argument about the patent descriptions, but was just and attempt so you could put them in the metes and bounds program to see the picture on how I interpreted the patent (I had rearranged the survey data and calculated and unknown distance “country line” to facilitate ease in drawing the picture.) Once our discrepancies are known, we then can debate over particulars.
Either kick me out of the bar bartender, or pour me another drink.
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stephen
May 13, 2023 at 3:37 pm
No problem… when confronted with an “iffy” deed, i will just try to surround it with neighbors… then it will work out the kinks.
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anderson1951
May 13, 2023 at 5:02 pm
To Marc:
Again, I still feel there is some misunderstanding and can see that my ill attempt at humor can be taken negatively. It was unpleasant for me that you felt I was trying to impose on you when that is not the case. I hope that I was able to convey to you adequately of what I was trying to do. My bartender phrase was not intended to be aggressive in nature, but was written on the premise that I had explained my intention was only to discuss things and was still willing to participate. You are a witty and good writer. I am not.
I agree that there are questions around the patent and the methodology you suggest is a good way to address it. It’s your maps and I think you are doing a great job. It really doesn’t matter to me what you work on or how you do it. I have learned new things here and have posted some hoping that someone else might find something helpful.
I have some questions that stem from the Boon patent and are not intended to be a subtle argument, but a genuine curiosity. I am aware of the boundary dispute between VA and NC and that each jurisdiction had issued patents that fell outside of their jurisdiction when the boundary was settled. I also envision that there were only a handful of surveyors that were operating. For patents (or deeds) that reference the “country line”, have you come across any that were located way off the mark of the settled boundary? For a surveyor to have used the “country line” as a boundary reference, he would have to have known or perceived what that line was.
Who or what dictated the use of “country line” in describing boundary markers?
If I was a surveyor and there were issues floating around about the boundary, I would have found it prudent to just use the common descriptions. Is there any specific time period when we can use “country line” as a reliable tool in our analysis?
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stephen
May 14, 2023 at 3:03 am
Don’t read too much into this… I appreciate your excitement and interest… plus you add some interesting thoughts. I just move around quickly with my thoughts.
Thomas Jefferson referred to Virginia as “his country”. He was proud of it. I think that pride has been long ago lost. Tom’s father was an excellent surveyor… made some maps if I remember correctly.
Use my search button for “country line”… I have talked about it a bit…
I think that William Byrd II and his book is online.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/byrd/byrd.html
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anderson1951
May 14, 2023 at 3:52 am
Thank you.
I have not really done much research into the aspects of colonial surveying, but would probably find it interesting. I can boast that I have formal training at being a “chain carrier” . There was no instruction on boundary surveys that I recall and they just seemed only interested in placing heavy metal objects onto a specific spot from great distances. I can sympathize with the seldom mentioned chain carriers back then and would have asked them if I could; Where there issues with your chains getting tangled in storage? and if so; How much of a pain are they to untangle?
We had spiffy steel tape that rolled up like a tape measure, but guess that is now a thing of the past too.
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stephen
May 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm